Elongated medical devices are often deployed to a targeted internal body location using a guide catheter or introducer. Examples of elongated medical devices include implantable medical electrical leads, such as cardiac pacing and sensing leads, and diagnostic or therapeutic catheters, such as electrophysiological mapping catheters and drug delivery catheters. The guide catheter is typically introduced into a blood vessel and the distal end of the guide catheter is advanced to a desired body site. The elongated medical device is then advanced through the guide catheter to a targeted implant site. While maintaining the elongated medical device in the desired position, the guide catheter is withdrawn over the elongated device body, leaving the device in position for monitoring physiological signals or delivering a therapy, such as an electrical stimulation therapy or a pharmacological or biological agent.
Depending on the targeted location and lead/catheter size, the guide catheter may be made with a relatively small diameter in order to allow advancement into narrow veins or arteries. The elongated medical device often includes a connector assembly or hub at a proximal end of the elongated body that is larger in diameter than the inner diameter of the guide catheter. As such, removal of the guide catheter from the implanted device often requires the use of a “slitter”, which is used to slit the guide catheter open as it is withdrawn over the elongated medical device. Because guide catheters and therapy delivery or diagnostic leads and catheters are available in a range of sizes, the slitter may be size specific so that it can be secured to the elongated device body and held in a stable position while the guide catheter is slit and removed. As such, a correctly-sized slitter may be required with a particular lead/catheter system.
Positioning a diagnostic or therapeutic lead/catheter at a desired location can be a time-consuming task requiring considerable skill. Once positioned, a physician must carefully remove the guide catheter without dislodging the lead/catheter from its desired location. If dislodgement occurs, repositioning is required which may involve reinserting the guide catheter. As such, a slitter needs to be easy to handle with one hand while the physician carefully withdraws the guide catheter with the other hand, all the time allowing the lead/catheter position to be stably maintained.